Even in Perry’s home state, Cain is king

Even Texans think Herman Cain might make a better president than Rick Perry. (AP Photos)

What’s a guy to do when even his home state doesn’t think he’s the best choice for president?

Rick Perry’s going to have to answer that question for himself this week. A poll released today by the Texas Tribune of likely Republican primary voters in Texas shows Perry one percentage point behind Herman Cain, 26 percent to Cain’s 27 percent support.

This isn’t a statistically significant advantage–the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus almost five percentage points. That means it’s too close to call a clear winner in the Lone Star state just yet. But Perry would still beat out Pres. Obama in a head-to-head match up by eight percentage points, which is a bigger margin than Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul and Cain can claim.

Even though they think he’d make a better president than Obama, Texans still aren’t totally gaga over their governor –44 percent of respondents disapprove of his performance as governor, while 39 percent approve. And only 29 percent of respondents think it was Perry that helped Texas fare better than the rest of the country through the recession; a full 65 percent think it was Texas’ long-standing policies that helped the state’s economy.

And the geographic breakdown puts Cain ahead with rural voters and in Houston and Austin, while Perry leads in Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.

With his campaigns in early primary states up and running, Perry may be lucky that the Texas GOP primary isn’t until March. By that time, the primary contest may be decided.